Coca-Cola Honors Tom Brokaw With New Scholarships For Vets At Community Colleges -- WASHINGTON, July 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

Coca-Cola Honors Tom Brokaw With New Scholarships For Vets At Community Colleges

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An iconic American brand and a revered broadcast journalist have teamed up to help military service members in 10 states advance their college careers this fall.

The Coca-Cola/Tom Brokaw Military Veterans scholarship program will provide one $5,000 scholarship to a returning military veteran or active-duty service member in a discipline of his/her choice at designated community colleges. Awardees will be selected by the individual colleges, and scholarships will be awarded by July 31 for the fall 2013 semester. The scholarship program was created in Brokaw's honor following a recent presentation he gave at a Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation event.

The new scholarship program adds to the more than $5M that the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation has committed to education at two-year colleges. Brokaw, a television journalist and author who served as managing editor and anchor for the NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004, has been a vocal advocate for military service members, especially veterans of World War II. He is the author of two best-selling books on the military experience: The GreatestGeneration and An Album of Memories: Personal Histories from the Greatest Generation.

"Too often we take for granted our liberties and we fail to recognize the sacrifices made by service men and women," Brokaw said. "By providing access to higher education for veterans, we are committing to their future, as they have committed themselves to us."

Coastline Community College (CA) Fayetteville Technical Community College (AR) Florida State College at Jacksonville (FL) Hopkinsville Community College (KY) Lone Star College (Texas) Prince George's Community College (Maryland) Rose State College (Oklahoma) Trident Technical College (South Carolina) Tidewater Community College (Virginia) Rio Salado Community College (Arizona)

The American Association of Community Colleges is a national organization representing the nation's close to 1,200 community, junior and technical colleges. Community colleges are the largest sector of U.S. higher education, enrolling almost half of all undergraduates annually. See www.aacc.nche.edu .

The Coca−Cola Scholars Foundation proudly supports the New Century Scholars Program, theCoca-Cola Community College Academic Team Program and the Leaders of Promise with an annual commitment of $400,000 in scholarships and stipends. To date, we have awarded more than $5M to nearly 5,000 two-year college students. Visit www.coca-colascholars.org for more information